Dear all

Welcome to our first newsletter of the session. We have had an excellent start to the term and it has been lovely to

see all our children and young people settle into the new term, working hard and having fun.

We have had a busy term advertising new posts and we will be welcoming Mr MacDonald to our Maths Department.

Mr MacDonald has a background in engineering and maths teaching. Mrs Allan also joined us as a teacher at

Dornoch Primary School and Bonar Bridge on 4 September. Welcome, Mrs Allan! We also welcome Ms MacInnes as

our new Faculty Head of English and Creative Subjects. Ms MacInnes is the former Faculty Head at Invergordon

Academy and will join us on 4 October. Ms Mackenzie is our new Principal Teacher at Bonar Bridge and will join us in

the new term. Ms Mackenzie is delighted to be returning to Bonar Bridge after serving her probationary year at the

school and later in her role as Acting PT. Ms Russell is our new clerical assistant at Dornoch Primary school and we

welcome her in October.

The overall results from the 2017 SQA exams were very pleasing. The percentage of our S4 pupils achieving five or

more National 5 course awards was 51.3%, our highest value in the last three years and significantly above the

corresponding figure for Highland. At Higher level, the percentage of S5 passes in each of the key measures was

both higher than the previous year and higher than the corresponding figures for Highland. Further, three S5 pupils

achieved a phenomenal five Highers all at grade A – well done to them! In S6, three pupils achieved three Advanced

Higher course awards – again, a huge well done to them!

Looking after our home grown vegetables. Improving our motor control.

Learning new skills at gym time. Exploring together in the water tray.

Many thanks to the pupils and parents

who contributed items towards the end of

last session for our Backpack Project. Over

the summer, eight backpacks were sent off

to Mary’s Meals and we received a

certificate of thanks.

We put Mentos sweeties into the diet coke

bottle. It exploded in the air with lots and

lots of bubbles. It was amazing to see the

coke up in the air and funny seeing Mrs

Cameron getting covered in it! Lacey

We went to the benches at the front of the

school to do our experiment. We needed

diet coke and some sweeties called

Mentos. The Mentos dropped into the

coke and they exploded! It sprayed out

the top of the coke bottle. It was fun

watching. Euan C

Our Technicians Maths Group has been learning to round two digit numbers to the nearest ten. Max moved into this

group at the beginning of this session, having made a lot of progress in the previous year. He is now working with

Donnie, Conor and Charlie who are fantastic learning partners. They grasped the concept of rounding up and down

very quickly and were able to support Max. They explained how they got to understand it and Conor spent time

working with Max until they felt he was confident enough to do some examples on his own. The rest of the group

were able to move on to rounding three digit numbers to the nearest ten independently.

Edinburgh Book Festival 2017 - We had another successful two day trip to Edinburgh for the Book Festival with 26

second year pupils. We attended two very different events, the first being one of Siobhan Dowd’s stories read by a

storyteller, enhanced by song, whilst simultaneously illustrated live. Our second event was listening to author,

Robert Muchamore, talk about his popular books and what writing plans he has for the future. Pupils appreciated

his frank answers about the ups and downs of his career and were amazed to find out that Robert wrote his first

book in 2004, hoping he would earn enough to go on a nice holiday, but has since had his books published in 27

languages and has sold eight million copies!

Due to funding from the Parent Council and Ward Discretionary Fund we were able to give each pupil £5 to add to

their £3 book token from the Festival to ensure everyone this year was able to buy a book of their choice from the

fantastic bookshops on site.

The following places were elected by the

entire class on Wednesday 23 August. This

year the class will be undertaking various

community endeavours. Throughout the

year, they will also link up with the Interact

Club to organise co-joined events for the

entire 3-18 campus. Everyone in the P7

RotaKids Club are all very excited to fulfil

their new job roles and responsibilities.

President: Amy Fraser; Vice Presidents:

Leah Macdonald, Anya Morrison, Katie

O’Donnell, Lucy Robertson; Secretary:

Rosie Milligan.

In addition to our time spent at the Book Festival we were able to spend some time shopping, go on a ghost tour to

hear some of Edinburgh’s fascinating history, have dinner out, as well as being able to watch some of the street

performers and see the sights of Edinburgh as we walked throughout the city. Feedback from pupils shows that the

trip has inspired the majority of them to read more.

Paired Reading - Paired reading in the library has been increased. With help from Support for Learning and S6 pupils,

a greater number of pupils are now receiving support with their reading. Also, twice a week, nursery pupils visit for

paired reading where secondary pupils read them a story which is helping with their confidence in reading. Both

nursery and secondary pupils are enjoying these visits.

Gaelic Interdisciplinary Learning - On Tuesday 26 September we will be hosting a Gaelic interdisciplinary learning

project with P4/P5 and S2 at Dornoch Academy. Children and young people will be cooking, participating in drama,

writing stories and learning the language. We are looking forward to seeing everyone on the day.

Clearances Interdisciplinary Learning - On Wednesday 20 September we will welcome children from Bonar Bridge

and Dornoch Primary to the Academy for an interdisciplinary learning project on the Highland Clearances. Children

and young people will work in a number of departments to explore the topic and develop their skills for learning, life

and work.

Author, Barbara Henderson, will also take part in this year’s Clearances IDL day in September and will talk about her

book, Fir for Luck, which was published last year. The book is set in Durness during the time of the Clearances so is

very appropriate for the day. Barbara visited the school earlier this year to work on creative writing with N5 English

and Higher classes and we are really looking forward to welcoming her back.

Remembrance Interdisciplinary Learning - On Friday 10 November we will welcome children from Bonar Bridge and

Dornoch Primary to the Academy for an interdisciplinary project on remembrance. Children and young people in the

primary and secondary schools will work with a variety of departments to explore the topic in depth, participating in

music, art, drama and history.

Book Week Scotland - We are very excited that author, Martin Stewart, will be spending a day at the Academy in

November for Book Week Scotland. All pupils will have the opportunity to meet or work with him.

Young Writers

Secondary School Prefects - Well done to the following pupils on their recent appointment.

S1–S3 Pupil Council Results 2017

Carbisdale Dunrobin Skelbo

A Tay Warner-Mackintosh A Kirsty Ross-Baker A Adam Maclean

B Tom McFall B Hannah Grewcock B Elizabeth Lunardini

C Tilly Beaton C Mena Hancock C Daniel Murray

S4–S6 Pupil Council Results 2017

Carbisdale Dunrobin Skelbo

A Josh Trumble A Dean Hewitt A Andrew Cowper

B Gregor Messem B Carla Preston B Olivia Saunders

C Elise Knibbs C Maisie Richardson C Miles Jones

Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award – Fourteen of our senior pupils recently completed their assessed expedition walking

and camping over four days and three nights. Their expedition started at Braeantra at the top of the Struie and

finished at Ullapool pier. Their practice expedition, under difficult weather conditions, was completed in June when

they walked from Sciberscross in Rogart to Dalchork in Lairg. They now need to complete their Volunteering, Skill,

Physical and Residential sections to gain their award.

Crossing the river at its lowest point. Fish and chips at Ullapool pier.

Sybil Somerset, Sophie Stott and Cassie Sutherland submitted a 100

word story, set in a fantasy land or alternative world of their own

creation, to the Young Writers “Welcome to Wonderland”

competition a couple of months ago, and all three were chosen to

be published in the anthology. Pictured is Sybil receiving her copy.

Saltire Awards - Each year our young people volunteer with community groups from the Boys Brigade to youth clubs,

with both the young and the elderly. Every young person can register and complete timesheets to gain their Saltire

Award for volunteering within the school or community. This year we had a fantastic 30 Saltire Awards achieved,

amounting to 3860 hours of volunteering within local communities. Katie Baines this year achieved her 500 hours of

volunteering award and she volunteered at Rainbows, St Duthus School, Dornoch Academy Interact Club, Pupil

Council and Ullapool Harbour Trust. Well done, Katie!

Bonar Hub and Bonar Bridge Primary School Visit - On Thursday 14 September, 15 pupils from S3 visited Bonar Hub

with Miss Stones and Mrs Ross for delicious smoothies and cake. The Hub is an excellent venue for children, young

people and families. We had a great time looking around the facilities and some of our young people would like to

complete work experience placements in either catering, sport or child care. We are going back to visit the Hub for

their launch event on 21 October with Miss Stones and Mr Ross.

Relaxing in the café. Playing football in the games room.

After the Hub we went over to Bonar Bridge Primary School to see the children. We enjoyed a game of football with

them at break before working with P6/P7 on our vision for our 3-18 curriculum. We had a great time and came up

with ideas for our new 3-18 campus.